In
1840 our founding ancestors committed themselves to building a place where Maori
and Pakeha would look to each other with aroha, mana and manaaki.On Waitangi day this year I together with Sir John Turei and
Justice Edward Durie, set as a challenge for us all: Rua Rautau.

As
we approach 2040 and the bi-centenary of the signing of the Treaty, we have the
opportunity to strengthen and rebuild harmonious relations between Maori and
Pakeha. Rua Rautau calls on all
communities and organisations, Maori and Pakeha, to consider how future
community relations should develop and how different views might be reconciled.Rua Rautau is a long term
strategy. It will require us to take stock every five years to determine how we
are progressing towards our goals.

This
volume, Indigenous Peoples and Justice
– Tangata Whenua I Roto I Te Tika, is the first in a series under a
similar kaupapa, Ngai Tatou 2020 (All of
Us Together). It will be work like this that will help complete the aims and
goals of our challenge - Rua Rautau.

Many
Maori still see the present system as alien, imposed by the dominant society,
and deeply insensitive to their traditions and values. Maori account for
approximately 15 percent of the population of New Zealand, yet more than half of
the prison population is Maori.

These
facts speak to the need for fundamental change in a system that is clearly
inappropriate when it comes to serving Maori.

The F.I.R.S.T. Foundation,
in assembling together academics, practitioners, politicians and community
leaders with knowledge and expertise on the selected themes, asked them to
produce papers on a series of questions that participants were asked to
consider. In the course of presentations and the resultant discussions,
participants had ample opportunity to put forward their views and
recommendations as they related to the questions.

This
report of the proceedings is intended to stimulate further dialogue and positive
changes in policy.

I
leave you with two thoughts, implementation requires so much more concentration
and effort than recommendations and nearly everything that has worked for Maori
in the past, seems to have come from a Maori base.